Fearful, Trump Backpedals On Twitter

Fearful, Trump backs down after the New York Times reveals Republican efforts to cap tax-deferred contributions to 401(k) retirement accounts.

House Republicans thought cutting tax-deferred contributions to 401(k) retirement accounts from 18,000 to $2,400 per year would be a good way to fund massive tax cuts for the rich – until the New York Times spilled the plan all over the front page. Then, the retreat was as swift as a Trump tweet.

There will be NO change to your 401(k). This has always been a great and popular middle class tax break that works, and it stays!

There’s not a lot average Americans notice about what goes on in Washington; unless, of course, it’s a threat to take away their health insurance, or seriously cap their 401(k) contributions. On those issues, it’s too much like Congress walking into your living room and stealing all the furniture. Even the politically oblivious notice. And they’re not going down without a fight.

It is unclear if Republicans will ultimately include a cap on contributions in the tax bill… as a way to help offset the revenue loss from a reduction in business tax rates that Republicans have put at the center of their plan.

This is more than a clue as to how House Republicans think and what they’re really trying to accomplish with their so-called tax ‘reform’ plan.

First, let’s look at the budget bill that the Republican Senate passed Thursday, which Trump is now publicly applauding. It would cut funding by $5 trillion over the next decade. And guess who would suffer the most from these cuts? Senior citizens, the poor and the disabled.

Trump’s corporate tax cuts and the elimination of the death tax on millionaires, among other goodies for the donor class, will be coming out of Medicare and Medicaid funding.

And if you thought Republicans actually meant it when they called themselves fiscal conservatives, you thought wrong.

The tax cuts would add up to $1.5 trillion to the deficit over the coming decade, however, as Republicans have shelved fears about the growing budget deficit in favor of a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rewrite tax laws.

Trump seems to think that all he needs to push through his agenda is more bullying and threats to his fellow Republicans. That could be because he has no clue what’s in the bills he wants passed, or how much they will hurt the entire country. It’s also possible that he simply doesn’t care.

Trump may be a narcissistic, mentally unstable geriatric with a Twitter fetish, but in all likelihood, he knows that much of what’s in the Republican tax cut plan would land in his own pockets.